How many of these fighters would you favour Fury to beat ?

I think Bowe, Lewis, Tyson, Mercer, Holyfield, Ibeabuchi, on their best night could compete with Heavyweights now. But we differ on this subject which is fine everyone has their own opinions and views.

As I've said multiple times people need to have a balanced opinion in regards to the older eras and current era when discussing topics like this. Realistically fighters like Marciano and etc wouldn't stand a snowballs chance against Super Heavyweights. But I think elite Heavyweights of the past between 215-220 could hold their own against Super Heavyweights now.

 

I think I didn't express myself correctly. I'm talking on average, and not on specific X or Y fights or fighters.

For me Lennox Lewis is prolly Number 1 or at worst top 3 H2H fighter. I also think a lot of the top guys back in the day would also do quite some damage.

Now there is a thing evolution, and there is a conception that athletes(and every species as a whole) gets better with time, but there is also a PEAK point, and from that point the level is going down. And i think with Boxing we have reach it. With Bodybuilding for sure, as 90s was the golden era for example. Tennis the golden era was Federer, Nadal, Djokovic peak time. Same with Football, aka 90s, and till 2020 or so.
I would 100% for certain say this for sure is the case with most Karate Styles, Kickboxing and Muay Thai for 100% certainty. And i would also say with MMA as well, no matter how much they try to hype UFC(I like the model only, as there is no corruption and favoritism towards this or that guy on scorecards or by the referees)
And now in pretty much everything the quality is going down, and this is mainly due to lifestyle, and a lot of people nowadays are lazy and complacent. Also with all the stuffs and brain washing the generations are getting dumber and dumber, and this ain't an opinion, this is a fact.
And one of the most important thing for everything is the hard working, discipline, and the brain reaction time, IQ for fighting sports, etc. And nowadays it's all lacking. Now from kids their brains are full with b.c. like Social Media, and while they think they are competent on many topics and think they know all, they didn't even know the basics thing on most stuffs, let alone be Master at one discipline.

Now there is always exception, but now it's just that, back in the day it was the rule.

But i digress. Still i favor a lot of the old school training style and technique for a lot of things. I think nowadays the focus is wrong for weight for no good reason, which after a point is just a dead weight that just slows you down, and it's not worth the exchange. As after some point it's a trade off that is not worth it. You essentially trade stamina/cardio/energy, speed, movement, agility, balance, for some extra power, strength, and durability.

That being said i think some of the top dogs from the 90s would definitely be in the mix. The 60/70/80 not so much, not just because they were so much slower, but the technique and their guards/defense was not so good for a lot of them. Wide open, lack good tactical awareness, good strategy how to approach given style/match up, etc.
Still that doesn't mean everyone going to be useless, but the majority, or let's say it on average won't be on the level.
And i fully agree that after 200+lbs. you can be fully competitive at HW. You don't need to be 250+.

 

Very good post props to you.

 

As far as Tyson Fury - Mike Tyson. My view is purely based on styles. While i don't like Tyson Fury and i think you know this. I think he is just bad style for a lot of fighters, mainly because of his size attributes. He also has his skills, but i also think he has a lot of weakness.
And one of them is that he just can't be consistent. Make him fight 5 or 6 top opponents in the row, and he will peak in 1 or 2 of this fights, and the rest he will get smashed, as he won't show up. He just can't be consistent and in terms of what a Champion should be, he is terrible.
He dodged that, thanks to dodgy referee and scorecards, as well as having just 1 or 2 hard fights surrounded by 10-15 easy ones.
You won't see him fight top opponent after top opponent.

Anyway for me there is just too much size difference, and in terms of style Tyson Fury is all wrong.

Again Usyk was looking quite smaller than Fury and had some problems figuring Fury reach, and yeah this was significantly slower Usyk, but he still have better footwork than Mike Tyson, and most importantly is 13cm. taller and has 18cm. reach advantage, which is huge by it's own.
And Fury - Mike size difference is just way too big.
Mike is quite old and prolly lost some cm. on his height, but just look at the difference in here:

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Also Mike Tyson is great going forward, but he doesn't have that lateral footwork and backwards movement. Usyk is using pendulum step to a degree, back in the day a lot more, but he is getting older and it's harder, as this consume quite a lot of energy, and he is a lot slower. But that allows Usyk to dodge clinches and to not get hold on.

But Mike Tyson always had that problem, that's why i gave Holmes as an example, as Mike Tyson struggles in the first few rounds, before the KO with the clinches, and we know Lewis and Holy fights.
Now we get to the point that holding is illegal, and it's up to a debate should we even talk about it as a viable strategy and you know my point, that this should be punished and constantly takes point aways + DQ if needed. Without this, Mike Tyson would KO Fury, no doubt about that.
But the problem with Mike Tyson is, he is a bit like Povetkin, he is lunging in, and end up in the clinch.
With fighters like Usyk and Loma, they are bouncing front foot, back foot, and it's very obvious when a fighter trying to clinch and hold on them. And it's a clear foul.

And sorry for the long posts, but wanted to make myself clear.

Again while i don't like Fury i think he style well against Mike Tyson based on size and their style.
And while you know i like AJ, he is not very good against smaller fighters, and i actually think Mike Tyson would be nightmare for AJ.
Mike could very well be a problem for Usyk as well, if he can hurt him.

 

You don't have to apologize I enjoyed reading your posts I just haven't got much to add because i don't really disagree with anything you've said and I totally understand where you are coming from.

 

Even at the peak Fury hype, Team Fury were reluctant to say that he'd beat LL.

Lennox is the ATG of bad picks though. Lewis never seems to predict a fight correctly.

 

YouTube is your friend, it’s all there clear as day. If it’s between’86 and ‘88 also cut the volume way up

 

Perhaps some Shutter Island treatment is in order?

 

And...if Fury wants to push the boundaries of the rules, the far better skilled Lennox proved that he was more than capable of reciprocating same.